And we’re back.
How is your 2026 looking so far? After an all too brief break — and too few days of test cricket, if you ask me — we’re back at the desk and in the bars looking at a busy year ahead.
In today’s newsletter, I’ve included my editor’s note from the summer issue of Boothby magazine. We live in contentious times and the thrust of it is this: we could all use a little more hospitality and understanding in our lives.
And with the new year, there are new jobs to be had — I’ve included a round up of some of the gigs out there that might be of interest to you in Sydney.
Also: $13 cocktails at Mucho Group venues this month. Details below.
It’s going to be a big year for us too at Boothby in 2026. This year sees the Boothby Best Bars Awards program visit South Australia in June for the first time, in addition to stops in Queensland (May), NSW (July), and Victoria (August). Nominations will open in a couple of months.
And we’re getting set to announce the timetable next month for the third annual Bartenders’ Weekender, this year taking place in June from Sunday the 14th to Tuesday the 16th. The Drinks 100 Australia Awards will return, as too will the Better Bars Summit, along with a stacked schedule of parties, tastings and events. You can follow @bartendersweekender on Instagram for updates, and sign up to email updates at bartendersweekender.com.
If you’re a brand and you’re keen to get involved, we have just one slot left on the three day timetable to book — get in touch with Penny Sippe at penny@theexperiences.com.au ASAP for more information.
Okay, let’s get into it.
If there is a theme that ties the latest issue together, it’s one that is about the movement of people. Our food and drink scene is at its best when it pulls together the influences of people from around the world, people who come from different cultures and upbringings. I think that is difficult to dispute, and it has always been this way.
Hospitality is primordial. It has always been there. We’ve always cooked and cared for people, drank and danced together. Hospitality is, by definition, open, welcoming, empathetic, understanding, caring.
The times we live in could use a little more hospitality. We all get caught up in trivial arguments on the internet, by bogus debates on a once social media that is now primed to stoke fires that enrage us and pit us against one another. And what for?
Whether it’s breaking bread with another, or sharing a pint together, a little more empathy — oftentimes for strangers — is what we need. Hospitality spurs understanding. It’s more important than ever.
Immigrants have always been vital to the bar and restaurant world. Successive waves of migration to Australia only enriched our food and drink culture. And the richer our food and drink culture is, the richer we become as a society. Not just in terms of monetary rewards, either, though I think that has largely been true; but we become richer in knowledge, tastes, and understanding.
The degree to which a society is open — to people, to ideas, to new tastes and flavours — is a marker of its success; it’s also a complex thing, fragile, and ever at risk from those who would rather tear it all down.
But to turn inward, to demonise others and exclude people, that only makes things worse; indeed, it has only ever made things worse. That kind of thinking cannot build a brighter future for anyone, it can only dismantle. For all of our lives to become better we need the dynamism, ideas, and industriousness of immigrants as much as we do the people who are already here. We need complex answers to complex problems. We need leaders who encourage us all to understand each other a little better.
And we all could use a little more hospitality.
There’s quite a bit hospitality experience in the current issue (which you can get here). Whether it’s Stefano Catino (pictured above), co-owner of the Maybe Group in Sydney, who shares his story of being born into the industry, and discovering the love for bars and cocktails on the way from Italy to Australia; it might be Andy Chu of Melbourne cocktail bar, One Or Two, whose bar has something different to say but who has himself gone through an identity crisis.
I also enjoyed my conversation with Tom Godfrey, co-owner of FOCO in Barcelona, a bar getting some serious buzz on the global cocktail scene, as well as Evan Stroeve’s perspective on global lists like The World’s 50 Best Bars, and why Australia’s distance from much of the world is not a disadvantage.
Fred Siggins pulls double duty in the current issue, too, with a thoughtful piece about the role of coffee — and migrants — in Melbourne drinks, from the 1950s to today, and a look at how champagne is returning to its roots in many ways. And don’t miss Becca Wang’s look at the way Chinese wine and Chinese drinking culture is received in Australia — it’s a thought provoking piece that illustrates, once again, why we can all use a little more hospitality.
Get your copy of the Summer issue here.
New year, new job
It’s a new year, of course, and there seems to be more than a few places in Sydney looking for bartenders and managers — here’s a few that caught our eye.
- The Hilton Sydney is looking for a bars manager to oversee Zeta Bar and the heritage-listed Marble Bar, one of the city’s truly historic spaces — the bar is over 130 years old, one that can fairly be described as iconic. I have never understood the R&B nights there, and have often thought about what a truly great bar team of experienced cocktail bartenders could do in that space. Whether it’ll ever happen is another thing. (Salary range is between $90k and $105k).
- Odd Culture Group is looking to fill a number of roles, including a Restaurant & Wine Bar Manager slot at Odd Culture Newtown , and the general manager position at The Duke on Enmore Road.
- Jolene’s Sydney is also looking for a bar manager, so if you’re into country music, that might be the one for you.
And here is one for the Brisbane folks:
- Supernormal and Bar Miette are looking for a bar manager, paying between $75,000 and $90,000 a year — a good in to one of the country’s most respected hospitality groups, Trader House.
Oh, happy hour
The marketing folks at Mucho Group haven’t been slacking off over the break — they have new happy hours. They’ve got $13 Margarita OKs at Cantina OK! every damn day between 4pm and 5pm this month, and $13 Bar Planet Martinis at Bar Planet all night on Mondays (and for the first hour of trade every other day). It’s been at least 20 years since I paid $13 for a cocktail!
The latest issue of Boothby magazine has landed. Get the fifth issue of the magazine, with stories and interviews on Stefano Catino, Andy Chu, Three Horses, Abstract Bistrot, Holly Graham, Evan Stroeve, Mont Blancs, Blaze Young, Chinese wine, El Primo Sanchez, Bobby Carey, Jess Fitzgerald, Babines’ Suze To’, Wild Turkey’s Bruce Russell, FOCO in Barcelona, the Drink Of The Year, champagne, and plenty more. The best way to support Boothby is to get a subscription to the magazine.
